Paid Directories are websites which offer links to other websites in return for a fee. The website would be listed in a category appropriate to its content so that others who visit the directory could browse throught it and find sites which are relevant to their interests and needs. As well as the actual link to the other site, the paid directory would also contain a description of it. Despite the misnomer, some paid directories do offer free listings of websites which meet their requirements. Typically, paid-for listings would still be given a higher priority in this case, such as through being listed more quickly.

Yahoo is the best known of the paid directory services but many others have established themselves over the years. Paid directories offer website owners a relatively simply way to drive traffic to their sites. A good paid directory will have good content and many frequent visitors. Paid directories are often visited by search engine spiders a lot, allowing new submissions to be immediately be indexed by Google’s search bots and therefore instantly become available in Google search results. Being linked to by a popular site also increases a website’s visibility in search results.